Summary
Captain America: Brave New Worldisn’t doing so well with fans now that it’s started its critical box office run, and an unofficial new Marvel Cinematic Universe record being ascribed to it might help to explain some of the reasons why it hasn’t connected with fans in theaters.
Captain America: Brave New Worldwas always going to find itself in a tough spot, with the exit of Chris Evans from the MCU and Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson failing to properly soft-launch into the role in the Disney+ showThe Falcon and The Winter Soldier.More so, the film seemed determined to bury this transitory plot point under as many other plot points and castings as it could justify, including Harrison Ford’s MCU debut as Thunderbolt Ross and the Red Hulk. Some fans were perplexed at the debut of the Red Hulk in a project that held zero relation to Bruce Banner’s more prominent Emerald Giant,a character that the MCU has failed to an incredible degreeover the years.
While it was known from the beginning thatCaptain America: Brave New Worldwould be bringing back characters not seen sincethe MCU’s 2008 projectThe Incredible Hulk,fans might not have guessed just how prominent that was. In a pre-release report fromTheWrapaptly titled “‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Is Basically a Sequel to ‘The Incredible Hulk’ – Here’s What You Need to Remember,” the publication’s Jacob Bryant pretty competently makes the assertion that Onah’sCaptain America:Brave New Worldpicks up so many threads from the MCU’s second film that it is, in a very real sense, a sequel toThe Incredible Hulkand requires some knowledge of that previous project to properly engage with. This would mark a new record for the MCU, withCaptain America: Brave New Worldrequiring newer fans to go more than 16 years back to glean some context for a current-era theatrical release. Bryant isn’t the only prominent person to make the assertion either, with writer Mike Ryan taking to X to complain as well.
‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD’ seems to only exist to wrap up loose ends to The Incredible Hulk and Eternals. And in doing so the plot is about as convoluted and dull as that all sounds. This should have been called Captain America: Loose Ends. (And I love Mackie’s Sam Wilson so this is very disappointing)
The MCU has had a marked issue with giving newer fans of the franchise unnecessary homework to do ever since the first Disey+ shows started to hit the streamer, and it’s only gotten worse as the franchise has grown. However, this massive gulf between related projects is far and above anything else the franchise has ever put fans through. WithThe Incredible Hulkhitting theaters just a month afterIron Manpremiered and kicked off the MCU andBrave New Worldstill being the most recent MCU project available, the gap spans the entirety of the franchise’s history and anchors itself on both ends with projects that will go down as bad news for the studio. If indeed the film requires fans to engage with plot points that originate in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, then it’s no wonder that so manyfirst impressions callCaptain America: Brave New Worldfrustrating and messy. Many reviews allude to the plot feeling like patchwork due to the extensive rewrites and reshoots, and it’s obvious that trying to work in a decade-and-a-half-year-old precursor film would’ve aggravated those issues.
Despite being derided as only existing to tie up loose ends,Captain America: Brave New Worldstill leaves fans with lingering questionsby the end of it. It’s unknown how bad the fallout from the film’s underwhelming reception will be and how that might affect projects tasked with taking up these plot threads in the future, and that just highlights the tragedy of the film’s mismanagement. While fans wait on the final damage report from its theatrical run, its record-setting connection will be of little comfort to anyone who was rooting for Cap this time.
Captain America: Brave New Worldis currently showing in theaters across all markets.
Captain America: Brave New World
Captain America: Brave New World (formerly titledNew World Order)marks Sam Wilson’s first MCU big-screen appearance as Steve Rogers' successor after receiving the suit and shield in Phase 4’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Anthony Mackie returns as the titular Avenger alongside Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Carl Lumby as Isaiah Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson as The Incredible Hulk’s former ally Samuel Sterns. Harrison Ford makes his MCU debut replacing the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross.
